Weekend round-up
Sep. 12th, 2011 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melaniesuzanneFriday: Kohl's had a more massive than usual sale and I had three gift cards. I wanted dresses, but the Sterling Kohl's doesn't like plus-size women to wear dresses or skirts and I came home with one pair of cargo pants, four shirts, and two gift cards. Drove through the Sugarland Run neighborhood and found an adorable (and big!) house (with pool!). Too bad we're not in the market. Supped at IHOP. Went to bed early and stayed up until the wee hours reading The Help.
Saturday: Rode with Hubbyfink down to Sir Cian and Viscountess Catherine's home for a non-official practice. I learned three or four dussack drills and I learned them left-handed. Someone... either Sir Aelfred or Sir Cian suggested learning to fight ambidextrously. I've done a tiny little bit of rapier in the past (infinitesimal, really) so this cut-n-thrust/rattan fighting thing is new. I figure I'll initially learn it with my non-dominant hand and when that side has become stronger and the moves are locked into muscle memory, I'll train up the dominant side. Plus, playing left-handed tweaks Hubbyfink and that's icing on the cake. I caught on pretty quickly, thanks to being able to either mirror Hubbyfink and Sir Cian or following along with Baron Flaithri (who is naturally south-pawed). There's another non-official practice at another knight's home in a couple of weeks and I'll get to work on learning some rattan basics then.
After the dussack drills, I headed indoors to hang out in the AC with the other ladies while the guys armored up and beat each other with sticks. There were many delicious stories. At the end of the long day, people began to drift home. Hubbyfink, Ii, Abe, and I joined Cian and Catherine's family for dinner at a pizza joint down the street. We got home late and then I stayed up even later into the wee hours reading The Help.
Sunday: Kohl's more massive than usual sale was still in progress and I decided to see if the plus size section at the Herndon Kohl's (a) had any dresses and (b) was located in a more friendly area than a dimly lit corner of the most inaccessible recess of the store. They failed on (a) and would have totally scored on (b) except the signage was the opposite of where the womens section was located. I took a chance in the misses section and found three gorgeous autumn-weather skirts. I loaded up on colorful tights and a fringed scarf for good measure and walked out with no gift cards.
After the pop-up thunderstorm, I hopped on my bike for a quick spin through the neighborhood. I spent the next hour winding my way through Sterling Park's streets, discovering neighborhoods I'd never known about and nearly stroking out on hills that could rival the Rte 28 bridge. I was wheezing and gasping and had a terrible stitch in my left side. I was almost in tears and seriously doubting my ability to complete next Sunday's 30-miler. BUT. I rode through it and by the time I was half a mile from home, I felt fantastic. The stitch was gone, I was breathing more easily, and I felt like I could keep on riding for at least another hour if dark wasn't coming on so fast. I wound up riding 9.95 miles thanks to twisty neighborhood streets.
We capped off the evening with putting away laundry, "Zombieland", "True Blood" (OMG OMG OMG), and I stayed up until 11:30 at which point I finished The Help.
Saturday: Rode with Hubbyfink down to Sir Cian and Viscountess Catherine's home for a non-official practice. I learned three or four dussack drills and I learned them left-handed. Someone... either Sir Aelfred or Sir Cian suggested learning to fight ambidextrously. I've done a tiny little bit of rapier in the past (infinitesimal, really) so this cut-n-thrust/rattan fighting thing is new. I figure I'll initially learn it with my non-dominant hand and when that side has become stronger and the moves are locked into muscle memory, I'll train up the dominant side. Plus, playing left-handed tweaks Hubbyfink and that's icing on the cake. I caught on pretty quickly, thanks to being able to either mirror Hubbyfink and Sir Cian or following along with Baron Flaithri (who is naturally south-pawed). There's another non-official practice at another knight's home in a couple of weeks and I'll get to work on learning some rattan basics then.
After the dussack drills, I headed indoors to hang out in the AC with the other ladies while the guys armored up and beat each other with sticks. There were many delicious stories. At the end of the long day, people began to drift home. Hubbyfink, Ii, Abe, and I joined Cian and Catherine's family for dinner at a pizza joint down the street. We got home late and then I stayed up even later into the wee hours reading The Help.
Sunday: Kohl's more massive than usual sale was still in progress and I decided to see if the plus size section at the Herndon Kohl's (a) had any dresses and (b) was located in a more friendly area than a dimly lit corner of the most inaccessible recess of the store. They failed on (a) and would have totally scored on (b) except the signage was the opposite of where the womens section was located. I took a chance in the misses section and found three gorgeous autumn-weather skirts. I loaded up on colorful tights and a fringed scarf for good measure and walked out with no gift cards.
After the pop-up thunderstorm, I hopped on my bike for a quick spin through the neighborhood. I spent the next hour winding my way through Sterling Park's streets, discovering neighborhoods I'd never known about and nearly stroking out on hills that could rival the Rte 28 bridge. I was wheezing and gasping and had a terrible stitch in my left side. I was almost in tears and seriously doubting my ability to complete next Sunday's 30-miler. BUT. I rode through it and by the time I was half a mile from home, I felt fantastic. The stitch was gone, I was breathing more easily, and I felt like I could keep on riding for at least another hour if dark wasn't coming on so fast. I wound up riding 9.95 miles thanks to twisty neighborhood streets.
We capped off the evening with putting away laundry, "Zombieland", "True Blood" (OMG OMG OMG), and I stayed up until 11:30 at which point I finished The Help.
